The Hour Of Trial

Amir Zia
Monday, October 20, 2014
The News

It was hard to imagine that Sharif, who got more or less a perfect start to his third stint in power following the 2013 general elections, would be on the ropes barely less than 18 months into power. 


Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may have succeeded in clinging to power for now against the backdrop of anti-government sit-ins in Islamabad and mammoth public rallies in the other major cities, but Pakistan’s political turmoil remains far from over. Rather, it is all set to aggravate.
The country’s fast drift towards intense political instability has now become a stark reality given the extreme and confrontationist positions the two squabbling sides have taken.
The heightened political polarisation is likely to consume most of the government’s energy and attention in the coming weeks and months as it attempts to counter its rivals and remain afloat. It means Sharif and his team's ability and capacity to improve governance or concentrate on mid- to long-term policy measures vital to address pressing issues will reduce further. This will whip up public discontent and add to the opposition campaign demanding Sharif’s resignation.
Apart from the challenge the continuous political instability poses for the government, it is also harmful for the state, which faces multiple grave challenges – from border tensions with India to the protracted internal fight against extremists and terrorists. Add to the list Pakistan’s economic woes, the crippling energy crisis, the dysfunctional state of many of the country’s public sector institutions, including social services, and the soaring crime rate, and we have all the ingredients needed to keep Pakistan’s political pot on the boil. Real or imaginary public perceptions about rampant corruption and misrule only complicate an already volatile situation.
For any government or state, failure to resolve internal contradictions and overcome challenges is indeed a nightmarish scenario. Ironically, Sharif failed to move fast to prevent the impeding confrontationist politics that started on August 14 with Imran Khan’s self-proclaimed ‘Azadi’ (freedom) and Allama Tahirul Qadri’s ‘Inqilabi’ (revolutionary) marches. 
In fact, the Shahbaz Sharif-led Punjab government provided all the fuel to the fire with its ill-advised crackdown on Qadri’s supporters in Lahore which killed at least 11 people and wounded more than 90.
Even after the formal launch of the sit-in politics outside parliament in Islamabad, Sharif failed to capitalise on the unanimous support given by all the parties in the house and their efforts to find a negotiated-solution with the help of the self-styled ‘political jirga’ that tried to broker a deal between the government and the Imran-Qadri duo. According to the Jamaat-e-Islami chief, Sirajul Haq, the non-serious approach on the part of the government and the inflexible attitude displayed by both the sides are to blame for the failure of the direct and indirect talks.
Now with both Imran Khan’s PTI and Qadri’s PAT holding large public meetings in various major cities and planning to take their protests to the next level – which includes calls for general strikes after the month of Moharram – the tidings are bad for the besieged Sharif government.
Sharif – being an elected prime minister – on principle may be justified in asking why he should resign on the demand of a few, several, or tens of thousands of protesters. But in politics popular waves and street agitation hardly take into account the delicacies of the constitution and what is politically correct or incorrect. Being an old hand in politics Sharif should know better. 
Sharif failed to act promptly on the early signs of discord and dissatisfaction. Had he opened the four National Assembly seats for scrutiny – the initial demand of Imran Khan – before the start of the August 14 marches, it is possible that he would have given Imran Khan one less reason to agitate against him. Instead, his government provided every excuse to his bitter rivals to intensify polarisation. A case in point is the way the government initially tried to avoid registering an FIR for the Model Town killings by the police. That was done only after judicial intervention.
The failure of the political players to end the deadlock has led the country’s entire polity into a blind alley. If the crisis prolongs, only active intervention by the judiciary or the army can end this gridlock. Should our politicians allow this to happen?
It was hard to imagine that Sharif, who got more or less a perfect start to his third stint in power following the 2013 general elections, would be on the ropes barely less than 18 months into power. 
There was a first-ever peaceful and constitutional transfer of power from one elected government to another. There was a broad consensus among all the major stakeholders, including the country’s most powerful institution of the armed forces, that democracy and constitutional rule are the only way forward. Sharif’s comfortable majority in parliament – without the crutches of allies – triggered hopes for a strong and stable government. Sharif’s pro-business image raised expectations of bold and quick reforms.
The smooth transition in the leadership of the judiciary and the Pakistan Army also went in Sharif’s favour. It may now look odd how Sharif’s political fortunes eroded in a short span of time. The credit for that goes to Sharif’s style of politics, paving the way for the unimaginable to happen.
He took all the wrong turns which not only created unease within the institutions but also aligned the relatively non-traditional and new political forces aiming for greater political space and challenging the current democratic order which is skewed in favour of two old parties – the PML-N and the PPP.
To begin with, Sharif dragged his feet and wasted precious time in holding futile peace talks with the Al-Qaeda inspired local Taliban militants. It was only after a tough signal from the armed forces that he reluctantly took ownership of the much-delayed operation against the militants.
In relations with India, he again failed to take all the stakeholders into confidence and showed undignified haste in offering a one-sided olive branch to New Delhi without reading the intentions and mood of the hard-line Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi. The recent skirmishes at the working boundary between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours and New Delhi’s aggressive and hardened posture toward Islamabad indicate that those advising restraint and caution to Sharif in his peace bid were right.
Sharif and his cabinet members also opened an unnecessary front by targeting former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for ‘selective justice.’ The kind of language the two Khawajas in the Sharif cabinet used against Musharraf only worsened the distrust between the civil and the military leadership.
Sharif’s banking on his kitchen cabinet comprising mainly relatives and close friends alienated many even with the PML-N camp. The time he took in taking key decisions, even in the appointment of the heads of government institutions and regulatory bodies, only cemented the perception of inefficiency and incompetence of his government.
No wonder that more than 20 major institutions – from chief election commissioner to the head of Pemra – are now being run on an ad hoc basis. Institutions including PIA, the Federal Services Tribunal, the Karachi Port Trust and Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research remain without organisational heads.
Can Sharif and all the forces which stand for the status quo of the current democratic order crawl back from the brink and give Pakistan its much-needed political stability? That remains a tough question with no easy answers. 
However, what Pakistan desperately requires is a strong, stable government which ends this current state of political disorder and chaos. A government that focuses on the existentialist internal threat posed by Al-Qaeda-inspired and -linked terrorists and can stand against the aggressive designs of a Modi-led India. A government that can end this lawlessness, establish the writ of the state, initiate bold reforms and revive the economy. Ideally this democratic order should be able to deliver all this, but it is failing. Who else then?

The Girl Who Lives

By Amir Zia
Monday, October 13, 2014
The News

Malala has shown us the way...She will remain an icon of courage, grit and resolve. But can our politicians now fulfil their responsibility please? Can they work to make Pakistan peaceful and safe so that Malala can return home?... This young life needs to be celebrated.


After a long, long time, Pakistanis have a genuine reason to celebrate an unprecedented feat of a local champion. It is after ages that Pakistan has hit the headlines in the world media for all the right reasons – thanks to Malala Yousafzai, the teenage girl who courageously stood against the dark forces opposing girls’ education in her hometown of Swat, took a bullet to the head for her defiance and fortunately lived to fight on.
The Nobel Peace Prize, which Malala shares with an Indian child rights campaigner, Kailash Satyarthi, is an acknowledgement of the way she fought for the right of girls to education despite her tender age. 
Malala “has shown by example that children and young people too can contribute to improving their own situations,” said Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, while paying tribute to her. “This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls' rights to education.”
Malala, 17, is now the youngest ever Nobel Laureate. But she was barely 12 years old when in 2009 she started her crusade against the Taliban in Swat and their attempts to close the doors of education on girls. She wrote a blog under the pen name ‘Gul Makai’ for the BBC, highlighting life under the oppressive Taliban rule. Her ‘Diary of a Pakistani schoolgirl’ made the world aware of the plight of all Malalas…and the brutal nature of conflict in one of Pakistan’s most scenic and once serene mountainous regions.
“The night was filled with the noise of artillery fire and I woke up three times. But since there was no school I got up later at 10 am. Afterwards, my friend came over and we discussed our homework. Today is 15 January, the last day before the Taliban’s edict comes into effect, and my friend was discussing homework as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened,” she wrote in one of her dispatches.
The Pakistan Army ousted the Mullah Fazlullah-led Taliban out of Swat valley, and life started getting back to an apparent normality. But the danger of Taliban sleeper cells and terrorist attacks continued to haunt the residents of the region – especially all those who stood against the militants. Malala was a marked target as she continued with her campaign.
On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman. Two of her other classmates – Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramazan – were also wounded in the attack. It was a sheer miracle that Malala survived as the bullet did not enter her brain. Within days, she was sent to England for further treatment.
Just like the fictional wizard boy Harry Potter, who survived the assault by the dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, Malala too become the girl ‘who lived.’ Sometimes real life events are stranger than fiction and transform humble mortals into legends. 
And Malala not just lives, but continues to make waves, fighting all the demons and ghosts of intolerance, bigotry, extremism and terrorism while living abroad. Pakistan still is too unsafe a place for her to return to and live a normal life. Even before becoming the youngest ever Nobel laureate, Malala was an internationally-recognised voice for girls’ rights to education. Now she has become a more potent force.
Pakistanis do not have just this reason to celebrate Malala’s achievement; they also got a symbol to look up to. She is leading even through little actions. For instance after one of her teacher gave her the ‘big news’ that she won the Nobel Prize, she stuck with her remaining lessons. She did not rush back home to celebrate the big day with her family or jumped into the media limelight to deliver the Nobel Prize acceptance speech. She took her time. And when she spoke to the world it was yet again a powerful message given with all earnestness, but with remarkable humility. “I really believe in tolerance and patience. I used to say that I do not think I deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. I still believe that”, she said while talking to the media in Birmingham. “I decided that I would speak up. Through my story I want to tell other children all around the world they should stand up for their rights… They should not wait for someone else. This award is especially for them, it gives them courage.”
All our politicians – those trying to dislodge the government and those wanting to save it – should learn from the maturity, grace and poise of young Malala how to carry themselves during an ordeal or in triumph.
Malala’s accomplishment also underscores the mind-boggling paradox of the Pakistan society which can produce 21st century men and women as well as those who are incompatible with the modern times. The polarisation between those who stand for peace, tolerance, education and progress and those fighting to impose their narrow and intolerant worldview by hook or by crook could not have been starker.
The gravest challenge for the Pakistani society is how to defeat those forces that abhor our Malalas and justify acts of terrorism and suicide bombings by exploiting the sacred name of Islam. In this day and age, Al-Qaeda, its foreign and local allies and the extremist mindset, which thrives in society in many forms, vehemently oppose initiatives like girls’ education to polio vaccination drives.
Operation Zarb-e-Azb is one way of blunting their deadly designs, but the more important aspect to this make-or-break struggle for Pakistan is defeating this mindset. Unfortunately, it cannot be done with the barrel of the gun alone. It requires winning the battle of the narrative and defeating extremist ideology. Here, the civil society and our political parties – both in the government and the opposition – need to take the lead. So far, our politicians have not shown the kind of commitment and vision needed to confront this existentialist internal threat to Pakistan. 
Many of our political and mainstream religious parties chose to remain silent or only offered lip service to the cause of the fight against extremism and terrorism. Many politicians – either because of fear for their lives or simple expediency – still want to push the policy aimed at appeasing these non-state actors.
These efforts failed in the past and only made the situation more complex. This tried, tested and failed formula won’t be able to do the trick even now. The civil leadership needs to do a lot more than offering mere statements that they support Operation Zarb-e-Azb. It needs to take ownership of this fight and work extra hard to mobilise public opinion against these forces for unity, peace and progress in Pakistan.
Young Malala has shown us the way. She is likely to carry the cross and live up to the extra burden and responsibility which the Nobel Peace prize has placed on her. She will be a symbol and inspiration for many, both young and old, not just for girls’ right to education, but also for peace and tolerance in society. She will remain an icon of courage, grit and resolve. But can our politicians now fulfil their responsibility please? Can they work to make Pakistan peaceful and safe so that Malala can return home? Can they learn something from Malala? Can you and I emulate her footsteps – even a few baby steps?
This young life needs to be celebrated. The girl ‘who lived’ is of our own modern-day folklore… another legend. But the story is not yet over. It is still in the making.

The Apology We Need

By Amir Zia
October 6, 2014
The News

To make his mark, Bilawal has to get rid of the wall not just around Bilawal House but also the walls of corruption and greed around himself and his party. 

On September 28 the PPP’s young chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in an open letter to his estranged party supporters, apologised for all past mistakes and promised corrective measures to regain their confidence. 
Although Bilawal avoided listing those mistakes which forced him to issue this personal apology, it is indeed a bold and courageous statement by the scion of the Bhutto-Zardari family, who celebrated his 26th birthday only last month. This is perhaps too tender an age to jump into the hurly-burly of politics and take responsibility for all those mega-mistakes that are certainly not of his doing. But then Bilawal appears as the last bet for the PPP to revive its waning political fortunes – thanks to its last stint in power at the centre and continuing poor governance, mismanagement, misrule and allegations of corruption in Sindh where it has been holding power since 2008.
Unlike his mother, Benazir Bhutto, who also joined Pakistan’s political fray and was in and out of prisons when she was also in her mid-to-late 20s, Bilawal has a far steeper challenge ahead of him. At least Benazir Bhutto did not carry any political baggage that tied her party to corruption, greed and financial scandals when she took its charge, though she confronted a far ruthless rival in the form of General Ziaul Haq and his civilian allies.
Today, the PPP’s biggest nemesis is not some General Ziaul Haq, but its own actions and poor performance record, which have eroded its popularity. The last general elections reduced the PPP mainly to rural Sindh. The party was not even a close number two in the other three provinces in the electoral race, losing its place to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and other parties.
The public perception about the PPP under the stewardship of Asif Ali Zardari overwhelmingly remains negative. During the previous five-year rule, he only managed to consolidate his reputation as a wily politician, but was unable to shrug-off the stigma or his love of dubious deals, financial scandals and nepotism which even now are reflected in the way the Sindh provincial government is being run.
Bilawal would have done himself and his party a favour if he had, in his apology, identified and listed at least some of those mistakes that disillusioned many of they party’s voters and supporters. The first step towards self-correction starts from honest self-criticism. His promise of ‘rectifying’ those mistakes may appear hallow because he evaded articulating them.
He can come up with another detailed self-critical note on his party’s failings and indicate a way forward and a departure from his father’s style of politics. His much-propagated October 18 rally in Karachi can be the day when according to his party stalwarts Bilawal takes charge.
But realistically speaking, such chances are dim. One can only hope against hope that young Bilawal will be able to come out of the shadow of his father and many political ‘uncles’ and ‘aunties’ with the sway of some magic wand. The PPP of today is too big an enterprise now that it has tied itself with all sorts of vested political and financial interests.
Nevertheless, Bilawal could still take some baby steps in the right direction by offering a sincere apology first to the people of Sindh, who have stood by his party through thick and thin and in return got the gift of Syed Qaim Ali Shah and his continuous rule.
If the PPP’s young chairman has his fingers on the pulse of Sindh politics, he should have known by now that it is one of the most inefficient and ineffective provincial governments – recognised more for its apathy towards the issues of the common man and poor governance than anything else.
The list of the PPP’s mistakes of omission and commission is certainly a long one, but here are some innocent pointers that can make at least a good beginning.
First of all, Bilawal should apologise to the people of Sindh for the overall bad governance and the alleged rampant corruption which have become a synonym for the PPP. Be it fighting crime, providing education, better healthcare or even distributing relief goods to the flood-hit or drought-stricken people, the PPP has been found wanting on all fronts.
The first step to rectify the governance problem in Sindh could be holding the local bodies elections which devolve power to the district and union level. Bilawal should apologise on behalf of his party for not holding local government elections and ensure that they take place sooner than later.
Among many other slips committed by his party, Bilawal should pick up the thread by tendering an apology to the people of Tharparkar – the most backward district of Sindh – where more than 100 children died due to acute malnutrition and disease during the recent drought as the provincial government even failed to distribute allocated relief on time. 
According a SPDI report, the number of people living below the poverty line stands at 47 percent in Tharparkar, the highest in Sindh. Many of the other districts of Sindh paint a similar grim picture with incidence of poverty at 42 percent in Badin, 41 percent in Tando Mohammed Khan, 40 percent in Thatta, and 39 percent in Nawabshah and 38 percent in Larkana. Most of these districts remain a solid vote bank of the PPP, but they all lag behind in all the key social indicators – from health to education. 
These major districts of Sindh are also far behind when it comes to infrastructure and basic provision of civic amenities – from clean drinking water to the sewerage systems.
Bilawal must ask the gurus of the Sindh government why even places like Larkana – the hometown of the Bhuttos – and Nawabshah, his father’s hometown, continue to remain backward dustbowls with potholed, bumpy roads compared to many of the cities and towns of similar size in Punjab and even Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Why, after more than six years of continuous rule in Sindh, has the PPP failed to lift any of these districts to the status of model towns with the seal of his party’s development work?
Bilawal should also apologise to the people of Sindh for more than 6,000 non-functional and ghost schools – one of the biggest source of corruption and money-making for the PPP’s education czars and their lackeys. They have ensured that every seventh school in the province remains non-functional. The PPP will face no opposition from any quarter – barring vested interests within its own ranks – if it wants to make these schools functional again.
The people of Lyari also deserve an apology from Bilawal. This is one locality in Karachi that has remained the stronghold of his party from day one. Bilawal should apologise to Lyariites for the folly of his party seniors, including Zulfikar Mirza, for unleashing gangs of criminals in this neighbourhood, if not for failing to bring development, education and employment here. 
Thanks to the ill-conceived ‘policy’ – if it can be called one – of patronising gangsters and awarding party tickets for the 2013 elections on their dictates, the PPP has seen its political base eroding even in this support base. Can we imagine the PPP under Benazir or Zulfikar Ali Bhutto taking such a wrong turn? Can Bilawal rectify this?
Although Karachi is not the city where the PPP looks for mass support, yet it can initiate a few symbolic steps to create a feel good factor and invest for the future. Here, Bilawal can ask the talented Sharjeel Memon to at least confront the water and billboard mafias that are thriving right under his nose.
The list of the PPP’s mistakes can go on and on – from shady appointments and transfers in the police to its tango with mega-property developers. Young Bilawal cannot confront them all on day one. But he has to make a beginning. To make his mark, Bilawal has to get rid of the wall not just around Bilawal House but also the walls of corruption and greed around himself and his party.